Li
by romani was here
Summary: She’d watched him since the very first time he walked into Tia Dalma’s small, overcrowded hut. The first thing she noticed was his eyes. Deep, dark, chocolate eyes that told of courage, honor, strength, distrust and most of all, desperation. M to be sure.


She'd watched him since the very first time he walked into Tia Dalma's small, overcrowded hut. The first thing she noticed was his eyes. Deep dark chocolate eyes that told of courage, honor, strength, distrust and most of all, desperation. So obvious was his desperation that Li was at first strongly repulsed that such a man of so many amiable qualities should be so pathetic. A man of his kind should always exude control and calm, not a willingness to perform any task. Then, after patiently over hearing the conversation between Tia and the pirates, Li understood his desperation; he was in love. His willingness to perform was no longer pathetic in her eyes; it was noble. This man would perform these tasks in the desperation to save the life of the woman he loved; a noble act indeed. It may have been this moment that Li fell in love with the desperate but noble pirate but it was such a slow growth that the exact moment cannot be determined. One thing was clear though, the one and only William Turner had caught the attention of the devious and mysteriously dangerous Li.

It was another indeterminable amount of time before Li set her eyes upon him again, but the meeting this time was far too grave for selfish thoughts. The cunning Captain Jack Sparrow had been claimed by Davy Jones' leviathan along with his beloved Pearl. Davy Jones; how that name stuck fear and an immense anger in Li. Many a times her mistress told her the stories of the nefarious captain of the Flying Dutchman and many times had she relived the pain of losing her father. Shiang-highed into Davy Jones' crew, Li never saw her father again.

Li was shaken from her thoughts as Tia spoke to Will, "I kno you t'ought dat wit de Pearl you could capt're de devil and set free yer fat'er's soul."

"Doesn't matter now," he said with a flick of his wrist that sent his knife into the hard wood table, "the Pearl's gone, along with its captain."

"Aye and already the world seems a bit less bright." Gibbs said as he moved from his place from the doorway. He proceeded to propose a toast to the deceased captain, but Li was focused on Will. He was in the process of raising his glass when his movement was haulted by the voice of another woman.

"He was a good man." She said with a raise of her glass but she failed to bring the glass to her lips, something Li did not over look. There was no doubt, if Will's look was any indication, that this was the woman he loved and had there been any doubts, his next words would have put to sleep any that arose.

"If there was anything that could be done, Elizabeth…"

"Would you do it?" Tia interrupted, effectively breaking the small moment between the two. "What would any of you do? Would you brave de weird and haunt'd shores of World's End to bring back witting Jack and 'im precious Pearl?"

Li studied Elizabeth as the crew rallied together to save Jack's soul from the locker. She watched as her eyes never once rose to meet anyone's but Tia's and that was only to give her earnest answer. Earnest it was indeed from the way her light brown eyes bore into Tia's. She conveyed intelligence, wit, courage, honor, and strength but this a forced strength it was as the all too tell signs of guilt racked through her body and poured out her eyes. A small leak that, if Li had not been blessed with the gift of being able to effectively read others, would have been over looked by any other. She watched her suspiciously, not because she had any ill feeling for or from the other woman, but because she did not know the reason for this guilt. Elizabeth obviously guarded her feelings well when needed and finding out the source of the guilt would not be easy for Li.

The loud thunk of a boot on the rickety staircase averted Li's attention as the all too alive and healthy Captain Barbossa tromped his way down. "So tell me," he addressed the horror stricken group, "what's become of my ship?"

Li rolled her eyes as the once dead captain took a greedy bite out of a green apple, the juice rolling off his lips and into his scraggly beard. Her attention was on the shocked and surprised faces of the crew. Had the particulars been different and she was not aware of the fact that the crew thought this man dead and gone and had she not spent the last year watching over the captain, the scene would have been quite comical. But so was not the case.

Many mouths moved as to utter a sound but no voice found their lips. Then, being the first to have recovered, Will breathed out the very question on everyone's tongue. "How?"

"Tis not de time for questions nor de time for explanations. You must be weary from yer adventures today, Li will show you to yer rooms." It was then that all eyes glanced towards the petite Oriental girl that appeared out of the shadows and headed towards a door that seemed to appear from nothing.

Dazed and confused though they were, their weariness won over and all quietly shuffled out the confined room but not without passing a suspicious eye over the undead captain, none more so than Will and Elizabeth. Li led the motley crew across a rickety bridge that seemed to sway with any sort of small movement but which Li effortlessly glided over despite the violent shaking that was prone to happen due to the stumbling behind her. She walked quickly and never once glanced back to make sure her guests were still behind her and had not fallen off to the murky water bellow. When she finally reached a small cabin not much larger than Tia's hut, the crew was still a good fifty feet behind her. She impatiently waited as they stumbled their way onto the scaffold and without a word of concern she gave a small push to the door leading to a bare room with only a few lit candles and blankets and some pillows. They had barely piled into the room when Li disappeared into the floating fog.

"Well, tis a cozy little place I suppose." Gibbs said before taking his place against one of the walls. "A bit bare for my tastes but it'll do."

"It does strike a homely feel in one's soul." Ragetti replied as he curled up with a blanket.

"I think you mean ominous." Pintel replied. Ragetti was about to voice his argument when the door was reopened and Tia entered followed by Li.

"Remove yer jacket." All eyes turned towards Will, the obvious recipient of Tia's command.

"Why?" Will asked apprehensively.

"Do you wish te die before we even begin out journey?"

Everyone stared between the two with bewilderment before Will hesitantly began to shrug off his dark leather jacket. A gasp escaped from Elizabeth's mouth followed by a "Mother's love," from Gibbs as all eyes focused onto the shredded flesh of Will's back.

"Li will assist you wit yer wounds. As for de rest of you," Tia said as she turned to leave, "rest well, fer who knows what t'morrow brings us." Then without another breath, Tia was lost to the fog.

Will had picked a corner of the room to lie down in, not too far from Elizabeth but not too close either. Li set a small bucket next to him before motioning for him to turn his back towards the light. She kneeled quietly behind Will as she soaked a small sponge in the bucket. Lightly she brushed aside the shredded pieces that used to make up the back of Will's shirt. Carefully she had to tear some of the threads from the crusty scabs that covered his back before she began to gently scrub the grime, sand and remaining cloth from the wounds. Even the slightest pressure caused parts of the wounds to reopen and Li would become temporarily distracted at the clenching of Will's jaw but never once did he muttered any sound of pain, despite the fact the bucket was filled with murky red water. Carefully Li applied fresh bandages to his back that were coated with an unknown salve that had an overpowering herbal smell to it. Her fingers lingered above the last bandage, drawing ever closer to the exposed skin of Will's back. A disarming snore from across the room caused Li to snap her hand back as if burnt and to stand, quickly gathering her things. She was about to turn when a strong hand reached out and caught her much smaller one. Li froze and she felt an unusual heat warmed her cheeks but showed none of the baffling emotions coursing through her.

"Thank you." Will said with a small smile before releasing her hand.

Li turned quickly and glided out the door but before the door had been closed a tenth of second it reopened and she reentered. "You are to remove your shirt, I'm afraid it will do nothing to protect you from the cold. Don't be alarmed, I will return with a fresh one." Will's eyes darted to Elizabeth's form for a second before he slowly began removing what was left of his shirt. He finally removed the useless cloth before he handed it to Li with a lopsided smirk. As quickly as she had reentered, Li exited. Will watched the enchanting girl leave before he caught Elizabeth's stare from the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her but she quickly averted her gaze back down to the thread she was currently fiddling with. Will's jaw clenched tightly before he slowly rolled over to lie on his stomach. Patiently he waited until Li returned, his thoughts the only thing to occupy his time. Thankfully it did not take Li long to return with a clean maroon shirt. He expressed his thanks once more but not a word escaped from her beautiful red lips and once again he was left with only the dim light of the only remaining candle. With a weary sigh he put on the shirt before blowing out the candle and losing himself to whatever sleep he could find.


End file.
